The loading and unloading of packages from truck trailers or the like is typically a physically challenging task for which extendable conveyors are used.
Extendable conveyors, such as described in WO 2006/068443 A1 and DE 10 2010 005 267 A1, have a base unit and multiple extendable conveyor sections which are nested within each other. The total length of the extendable conveyor can be adjusted by extending or retracting the nested extendable conveyor sections. The end of the extendable conveyor, (e.g., the outmost extendable conveyor section), can move, for example, into a truck at a loading dock for loading or unloading goods. Such known extendable conveyors usually have a control panel at the front end of the extendable conveyor for controlling the conveyor.
The control panel at the front end typically allows control of the extendable conveyor, in particular to start and stop conveying of articles in order to load or unload articles, e.g. from a truck. However, the loading and unloading situation may differ from each other, since it makes a difference whether an article is picked up from the conveyor (e.g., a loading situation), or whether an article is put onto the conveyor (e.g., an unloading situation).